Reality Knitblogging

I was thinking about writing up a post tonight on the local grocery stores I visit. I'm a regular customer at no less than three different stores, and there are five that I visit probably at least once a month. It's a little crazy. I visited two in the last two days, and the difference between them is stark. So I was going to describe it all, and then I realized that the point isn't to put my readers to sleep, let alone drive them away. I'll leave to your imagination the details of SuperTarget (SuperCommercial, Super Self-Centered Shoppers, SuperPre-Packaged) versus the amazing local co-op The Wedge (a wedge of organic everything, a wedge of great advice from the resident chef who is very nice to my kids, a few wedges of lunch and treats from the awesome deli counter, and a giant wedge of friendly, crunchy shoppers who smile at my girls and treat each other nicely).

Bored yet? Me too. Let's look at some knitting pictures. Most knitbloggers do their best to show their knit pieces in beautiful settings, neatly - even artfully - displayed. I do it myself to the best of my ability most days. Not tonight. Tonight we are having reality knitblogging because I need to go tackle the stack of bills and crappe building up on my desk, as well as this:



No, not the cats - they manage themselves quite well, although they could really use a bit more attention than they're used to lately. I'm talking about the four baskets of clean laundry in my living room waiting to be folded, plus the two more in the washer and dryer downstairs. OY!

So let's have a look at the knitting progress. We haven't looked at Blankie since the 19th, and she continues to inch along. I didn't bother tucking in the ends tonight, so you can see what the normal mess of strings looks like.



And here's a close-up of one new section:



We're approaching the end of Socktoberfest, so I ran around the house and even out to the garage to gather up all the socks in progress for a little snapshot. First, let's take a look at where we were on October 7:



And now, artistically displayed on the high chair which has at least been wiped clean of tonight's pureed peas and oatmeal...from left to right - the Jaywalker that has been in the bag I take to the yarn store while teaching classes, the one that has been in the diaper bag (this one has seen the most knitting time this month); the plain-jane stockinette sock that's been living by the computer but also making trips up to the baby room while I get Sophie back to sleep; and finally the one that's been serving as emergency knitting in the car, which has been sorely neglected in favor of the diaper-bag Jaywalker. I'd really like to finish the Jaywalkers soon, as they are nice wool that will keep my toes warmer than the cotton-wool blend of the other socks. Too bad I can't work on them in the dark.



No kid pictures today, although Sophie got her first shiner this afternoon - nothing serious - just bopped her face on the side of the dollhouse while trying to stand at it on her own. Tomorrow I hope to get some better pictures of them in their Halloween costumes.

Now it's time for some chores!

Pre-Halloween Fun

Today ended up being all-Halloween family-fun day in the Kang household. It's kind of weird when we actually manage to spend a day as a family doing fun things together, because unfortunately, that's not the kind of thing our family is always best at. It seems like we do better one-on-one - Joe taking Julie somewhere, or me doing something with one or both of the girls, allowing the other one to either get something done at home, or just take a break. But today we stuck together, and I think most of us managed to enjoy ourselves at some point during the day.

We started off at our local library, where they were having a special Halloween-themed story time, including a little costume-parade around the main area to the tune of Monster Mash.


There's my little monkey.


All the kids were dressed up in their costumes, and the room was decorated nicely.


Even Sophie got in on the fun. I'm not sure whether this costume is supposed to be a dinosaur or a dragon, but she's awfully cuddly-cute in it. It has a little hood that is even cuter, but she doesn't like it up. Look - even Joe is actually smiling!


After the stories, Julie got her face painted. She was very excited about it, and I was proud of her for overcoming her sometimes extreme shyness to let a stranger touch her face.


Julie talked us into going out to lunch at Chipotle (it didn't take much), and then we came home and carved pumpkins. Julie tried scraping out the inside of hers for about ten seconds before deciding she didn't like the goopy stuff and handing the job off to me.



Instead, she went back out to the living room and got Joe to help her put her costume back on. Although Joe did carve pumpkins a couple times growing up, it wasn't a yearly tradition for him, and he tends to shake his head in amusement in my obsession with little holiday-related things like pumpkin-carving, egg dyeing, christmas-tree decorating, etc. Especially considering that we're, well, heathens.



Anyway, I persevered and finished carving a couple jack-o-lanterns with occasional participation and observation from the rest of the family. Here's what we ended up with.


At least Joe gets a little more excited about the roasted pumpkin seeds. I also managed to mix up a batch of sugar cookie dough, and tomorrow Julie and I will make some Halloween cookies.

Resolve

Let's talk a bit more about that Bavarian Twist sweater. I really must thank everyone who commented about it - reading all of your words really helped me pull my own feelings about it into focus. The number one point that hit home was that if I'm in the mood for some mindless knitting, then goshdarnit I deserve some mindless knitting. I work hard all day and night, and if in the end I want to spend my precious few minutes of free time working on the blankie, then why should I feel guilty? I shouldn't. I resolve that from now on, I won't.

That said, I'm not going to put the sweater away or rip it out or anything, either. I'm going to keep working on it as I have the time and energy, and give myself permission to finish it when ever it happens to get finished. There are several reasons why.

First, a big portion of the joy I get out of knitting is the having done it part. The finishing, the looking at it and thinking "Wow. I made this." I'm already halfway to that point on this project, and it's only going to get easier once the sleeves are done and joined into the body.

Second, adding more projects to the UFO list isn't going to help any either. Yes, it is fun to dream about starting a sweater for myself, but the reality of swatching and thinking it through and doing the relatively complicated colorwork at the top is going to put me right back in the same place as I'm at with the current sweater pretty darn fast. When I'm honest with myself, the problem isn't the project - it's all the other pressures in my life that I'm really whining about. Mostly.

Third, and this is a big thing that I didn't mention in my previous post. Something I didn't really think about much till I really contemplated the idea of putting the thing away and getting it back out later. Here's what the "pattern" for this sweater looks like:



It is a couple of sheets of scrawled schematics and cryptic notes on graph paper, plus a sheet of literally cut-and-pasted copies of graphs from Bäuerliches Stricken by Lisl Fanderl - graphs that are also covered with scrawled notes, and which I am only following in the way that makes sense to my current thinking. Graphs that do not resemble any other knitting graphs we've ever seen outside of Bavaria. Graphs that I had to call Schoolhouse Press and talk to Meg herself in order to figure out how to read, even with the key. But it's always pleasant having an excuse to call and speak with Meg. If I put this project away, I will forget all the little nuances that my brain is holding onto. I will loose all the little details that I don't even know are important, and I will have to eventually pick it all back up, pore over my insane notes, and hope that I can make some kind of sense out of it later. yeah. good luck with that.

I mean, I do write knitting patterns sometimes. I know that with the right effort, I could come up with a well-written pattern that would hold the hand of a novice working this sweater without ever having knit a cable in his or her life. I'm not going to do that or anything close to it, though, because these sweaters are meant to be one-of-a-kind pieces for only my girls. That, and the yarn I'm using has been discontinued for 20 years and I'm certainly not going to knit a THIRD copy of this sweater just so I can have a sample in a currently-available yarn.

So there we go. I'm going to keep knitting on it at least enough so that I can remember what the heck I'm doing, but I am going to try to not stress out about it. I really think things will get better once the sleeves are done - I don't like working these dinky little rounds where I have to figure out the next round every few minutes.

Switching gears, Joan asked for some help with her EZ Gull Stitch sweater, and I aim to please. Here is a picture of Julie wearing the one I knit her a few years ago out of Koigu. It really is a charming little sweater, although I think a solid color would have shown off the stitch pattern much better.



Elizabeth's directions are, as she puts it, pithy. Joan is at the point in the pattern (page 29 in my copy of Knitter's Almanac) where it says "Place remaining 92 sts on needle, knitting up 4X7 sts at the cast-on sleeve sts, and continue with pattern...." What she's asking you to do is knit across the front of the sweater, pick up seven stitches in the cast-on edge from each side of the sleeve you just knit, knit across the back of the sweater, do the same with the second sleeve, then knit across the other front. This joins it all together, avoiding underarm seams and leaving you with only two sleeve seams to sew at the very end. If you realize you're going to be doing this before you start the sleeves, you can use a provisional cast-on for those 7 stitches on each side and then you can simply pick up the live stitches when you get to this part. That's what I did, and it worked marvelously. I hope this clarifies things a bit. Or really, I hope that Joan got tired of waiting for my answer and went and figured it out on her own.

Are you ready for some baby pictures? Sophie does this all the time now - pulls up on something and just stands around. In this picture, she is staring at the television out of frame. I think it was late afternoon and we were watching Bob the Builder or something. And that pink sippy cup rolling around on the floor behind her? That was Julie's, only Sophie found it and had just been chewing on it a few moments earlier. I'm such a great mom. (yes, that was some irony right there.) But in the foreground? At the bottom left? Those are my feet in the handknit socks. yep.


Sophie at dinner, entertaining herself with a giant chunk of cucumber. Too big for her to choke on, but a great size for grabbing with little fists and slobbering all over.

Blogger Ate My Post

Last night I had a very decent post all written up, and I clicked publish right as Sophie started to fuss and I ran on up to deal with her and go to bed. But then something happened and it didn't actually publish and the post is gone. Bleh. The post was all about the warm fuzzies of all the nice comments I got about the sweater and what I'm planning to do. I still plan to tell y'all about that, probably tomorrow, but I'm really tired. Sophie was up and screaming at 4 this morning and it would be generous to say that I got another half hour sleep after that. Sorry. Tomorrow - same time and same place - I'll try to give you something juicy, or at least unburnt.

Tduck Gook Revisited and a Bavarian Twist Reckoning

We ate the Tduck Gook leftovers tonight, and I managed to snap a few pictures just after I assembled everything and before I rushed it to the table. First, a note on pronunciation. To an untrained american ear, Tduck Gook sounds like "duck gook". I got the particular spelling I'm using from a korean cookbook that I have, although I'm sure that it's spelled other ways by other english-speaking sources. Just as asian people sometimes have a hard time differentiating some sounds that we westerners make (think Ls and Rs, for instance), we westerners can't even fully comprehend the subtleties of some of their sounds. The T is in the beginning of Tduck in an attempt to show one of these subtle sounds. Instead of the D at the beginning of the word, it's really a sound that's sort of a cross between the TH in the and D. Sort of reminds me of the way certain east coasters say "da" when they mean "the". As a compound word, Tduck means the dumpling/noodle things I'm about to show you and Gook is the generic word for soup.

Here's a picture of the tduck thawing in a bowl of water before I boiled them. As I said before, they are eighth-inch thick slices of a sort of dough-type substance made out of pounded rice. Sort of like mochi, if you've ever had it. They are very pleasantly chewy when cooked.



Here are the bowls I used to serve our soup in tonight. The ones on the left are part of a set of mixing bowls, and are not at all the traditional serving vessels for this soup. The one on the right is about what I was looking for at the store the other day. I don't remember why I bought only one of these bowls when I bought it several several years ago. I have a vague feeling that I may have bought it before I knew Joe, and at one point I used it to store fruit in. So now I want more, and I am in no hurry, and I will eventually find something like them around town somewhere. In the mean time, the mixing bowls work just fine.



Here's the soup itself fully assembled. My presentation is neither as artistic nor as beautiful as my MIL's usually seems to me. But she's been serving it for a lot longer than I have, and I was in a hurry to get some hungry, tired kids fed.


Here's Sophie's dinner - pureed sweet potatoes and rice cereal. She ended up being too tired to eat and instead had a melt down while I tried to eat my soup as quickly as possible and get her to bed. On the bright side of that, she did have a nice, long nap this morning and a shorter one this afternoon, and last night she slept, well, like a baby.


Okay, it's time for a reckoning with the Bavarian Twist sweater. The last time I showed it to you was on September 17, and it looked like this:



Now, a month and change later, it looks like this:



The body has not grown at all, and I think I've actually decided that it needs another inch or so before the underarms. All I have accomplished in just over a month is that teeny tiny portion of a sleeve! Yes, it is true that this has been a month of slowly going insane with sleep deprivation and lack of any time to myself to speak of, let alone quality knitting time. Still, this is a sweater meant for my three-year-old who grows like a weed to be wearing now! This is a sweater that coordinates with the one my 8-month-old who grows like a weed IS wearing now. Yikes! Last night I knit for over an hour on that darn sleeve and only made it through a little over one repeat.

I feel that I am at a crossroads. Either I have to decide that it is really really important for me to finish this thing as soon as humanly possible, which might mean temporarily banishing the blankie from my sight (it is very hard to sit and work diligently on Bavarian Twist when the blankie is calling to me from across the room, begging for just one more square before bed time). Or - and it hurts to even admit this out loud. Maybe the Bavarian Twist needs to take a time out in the stash closet. Maybe I need to hide it away and think about it oh, say, in six months when the pressure is off to make it in time for Julie to wear it and I can focus on getting it done in time for Sophie to wear when she is three. Here are some of the pros and cons that have been circulating through my brain for the last week or so:

Reasons to get it done now:
-I would love to have an adorable picture of my girls wearing intricately carved coordinating sweaters that I knit for them with love. If I can get them to sit still together. Wouldn't it make a nice holiday card?
-I've put so much effort into it already, shouldn't I make sure to finish it in time so that both of my girls can get some wear out of it?
-I really hate to admit defeat on any project, and am not in the habit of hiding projects in the stash closet (except, maybe that one intarsia sweater for me that is constantly peeking out giving me dirty looks and reminding me how great it would look on me now if only I had kept up the good work)

Reasons to shove it in the closet:
-I'm tiiiired of this thing already!
-There are projects for me waiting in the wings - the Blue Shimmer cardigan is calling most loudly. Maybe if I started that one now I could wear it by, say, next winter!
-Julie did get a pair of knit pants for this winter already, and is very happy with them, I must say.
-Julie does not even enjoy wearing sweaters. Even on days when I can convince her to put one on, she wants it off almost immediately.
-I'm a little nervous about how it's going to fit her even now. I know that she will squeeze into it, at a minimum, but I am going to be really unhappy if there are gaps between the buttons when I button it up. You know what I'm talking about. I do think it looks narrower than it should at the moment because it's not blocked yet and it will spread horizontally when I wet it.

Okay, there were other arguments going round and round up there, but now that I'm trying to write them down, of course they have quieted down. I think most of them involved whiney please to "just let me work mindlessly on the blankie, please!" I swear, I have done much more intricate things than this stupid sweater. But that was when I had more of my brain cells before my girls fried them all. I hope they will one day regenerate and allow me to resume the full enjoyment of complicated knitting.

In the mean time, any thoughts? Care to cheer me on? Help me set a deadline? Figure out some reward system for completing parts of the sweater? Anyone got a really good hiding place for a half-finished project? I'm going to go plug in a DVD and toil on the damned thing some more for now, I guess.

Nothing to Complain About

Oddly enough, I have nothing to complain about this evening. Sophie pretty much slept through the night last night - I did take her into bed with me a little after midnight, but we didn't wake up till Joe got up around 7. Yippee! To top that off, she took a short nap in the morning and a nice hour and a half or so nap this afternoon. To top that off, she got nice and sleepy as on cue at the end of dinner, had her bath and went to bed by 8 this evening. Knock on wood. I can hardly believe it, and it amazes me how much my mood improves with a little bit of free time, sleep and a little bit of hope that there will be more of both.

I have to admit that no knitting at all happened on the Bavarian Twist sweater last night. I was all set to start on it when I realized that the movie I was going to watch was subtitled. If you haven't yet seen A Very Long Engagement, you really must. I love the actress who plays the main character, Audrey Tautou, and it is a lovely, sad, funny, romantic story put together nicely despite the violence of a war film. Even though I don't speak french, I love hearing the language spoken, too. Just make sure you have a no-look knitting project handy first - unless you speak french! I got a few squares done on the blankie instead, and I'm going to go work on the Bavarian Twist as soon as I finish this. I'm pretty sure tonight's video doesn't have subtitles.

Speaking of videos, I happened to find this one and another from my Netflix queue at the library last week just sitting there. It always seems that I run dry on Netflix DVDs on Sunday and/or Monday, so I grabbed them up and brought them home. I really need to find the time to look up more of the movies on my Netflix list and see if I can order them from the library for free. I heart my library!

Okay, first some family pictures and then the mailbag...

Sophie on the scooter thing that plays "Old McDonald" incessantly. She discovered the pushing of buttons a week or two ago, and is constantly crawling over to either the Sit-'N-Spin or this tractor thing to push the buttons and make some noise. When she's not checking for the toilet bolt caps in the bathrooms, that is. I finally took them off and put them away for the time being.



Joe and Julie got the fingerpaints out for a while on Saturday. Julie loves the fingerpaints. "I'm painting with my hands!"





Here's Julie riiilly enjoying some watermelon Sunday. We ate watermelon like crazy all summer when it was cheap, and Julie wanted me to buy more this week, so I got a tiny package of pre-cut for her as a treat. It only took about ten pictures to get one of her not making a weird face. Crazy kid.


This morning on the way out the door to pre-school...Julie says, "I have meatballs on my hat!"


And Sophie says, "honk-shoo" Ain't nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.


This afternoon on the couch. Julie wanted to cuddle. With me - not Sophie. So we all sat on the couch reading books together for a while. Julie loves her mauve baby blanket that I knit for her when she was born...it's getting a little fuzzy.



Okay, and about the mail...there was one comment a day or two ago that asked a question that I'm not comfortable answering. It was a perfectly nice comment with a perfectly normal question, and I don't want anybody to feel sad or sorry or worried that they said anything wrong... just - please don't feel ignored or hurt that I'm not going to answer your question. I'm pretty darn open here, but there are a few places I'm not going to go on the internet and that's one of them. Thanks for understanding.

Tduck Gook

I know I've mentioned korean New Year's Day soup here before, but I'm pretty sure I've never gone into the details of what it is and how it's made. This morning, it struck me as the perfect thing for a cold October evening, especially as I woke up feeling a bit off after only a combined total of maybe three hours' sleep, and it is the perfect kind of soup to eat when you're feeling a bit off. The first time I had it, it was on New Year's Day about six years ago at the in-law's house accompanied by a very bad hangover from the previous night's party which we had hosted at our apartment. But that's another story.

I had an oxtail in the basement deep freeze, ordered from the local farmers during their last delivery, and that was enough to get the ball rolling on a delicious dinner for tonight. Around 10 this morning, I ran down and got the package out of the freezer and emptied it directly into the pot, completely frozen. I ran enough cold water over the funky looking bones to cover them plus a bit more. Oxtail really is just that - it's the tail of a cow, skinned and cut into chunks. I only had a few pounds worth, not a whole tail. I added some salt and a couple quartered onions and set it on the stove to boil. Once it was boiling hard, I turned the heat way down to a simmer and left it there while I went and showered, napped a bit (not enough) and played with my family for a couple of hours.

The fog cleared from my sleep-addled head a bit and I thought about what ingredients I would need to pick up from the asian grocery store. Joe and I had about three conversations over which store would be best to go to - Kim's over on Snelling in St. Paul, Seoul Foods up on 65 sort of in the direction of the in-laws' place, or another one the name and exact location of which we don't know, but it has a deli in it that would have been a lot of fun to visit, especially since it was lunch time. I decided on Seoul Foods, and headed out with Sophie since Julie made it painfully clear that she wanted us to leave so she could stay home with Daddy. Ooookay.

It took me a long time to feel even somewhat confident walking into an asian grocery store on my own, even though I enjoy the experience overall. There are so many cool packages and interesting food products to look at - I remember when they *all* looked unfamiliar, and it was funny today exploring all the aisles of the store, still looking for new and interesting things but also coming across many ingredients that I know and love whether I keep them in my own kitchen on a regular basis or not. I still worry a bit as I'm picking things out whether I'm buying the right version of something to come closest to reproducing Joe's mom's cooking, but I'm getting better even on that front, especially after having lived with them for a few months last year.

The other part of the experience that I find intensely interesting is being the only white person present. It's an enlightening experience for most of us white Americans, and I've been lucky enough to have in many places and times over the last ten years. It's good to know how it feels to be the "other" in a place, sometimes welcome and sometimes not. I'm a little less self-conscious now than I used to be, but in a different, more respectful way that is hard for me to explain and really is a topic for another post. Back to the grocery shopping...

I picked up some frozen dumplings filled with cabbage and pork - like the pot stickers you get at a Chinese restaurant. I bought a package of Tduck, thick oval korean rice noodles that are chewy in a wonderful way when you cook them up. Some kimchee (spicy pickled cabbage), some roasted seaweed (like the stuff around the outside of sushi rolls), and a box of Pocky candy for Joe, who loves it. I looked for some bowls like the ones Joe's parents serve their soup in - the kind of bowls that they use at Pho 79 for the noodle soup there - but they didn't have them, so I resigned myself to making do with the ones we have yet again. Note to self: Need to look for a restaurant supply store in town that might have them.

As I was doing my shopping with Sophie in the sling, I wondered whether I would run into any of the in-law's friends shopping on their way home from church, but instead only ended up speaking to a nice older lady who asked me if Sophie was mine (oddly enough, even though she asked me pretty much the exact same question that pisses me off so much when random white strangers at the mall ask it, I felt okay with it from her - probably because she asked it with the assumption that yes, Sophie was mine) and I told her yes, my husband is Korean-american. This opened up the opportunity for me to ask her if the dumplings I had in my basket were the right ones for Tduck Gook and she reassured me that they were, and we had a pleasant but brief conversation about her daughter, who is married to a white man and comparing notes on who the mixed children look more like. She seemed curious as to whether all halfie kids look more like the white parents, and I said no, Sophie looks like my husband although our older one looks just like me. I think she was pleasantly surprised. Oh, this blog entry is going everywhere but the short story about food I meant for it to!

So anyway, I get home and take the soup off the stove. I fished out all the floaty stuff and stuck the covered pot on the back stoop (in just-above-freezing weather) to cool as quickly as possible. This part wouldn't have been necessary if I'd planned ahead and made the broth a day before. I ignored it all till about an hour before we wanted to eat, when I picked what meat I could off the bones, added in some shredded beef from a roast I made last week and had left in the freezer for just this purpose. I made a little pancake out of scrambled egg and chopped it into strips, chopped up some green onion and some seaweed. I put some rice on in the cooker - even though it's not part of the soup, Joe seems to feel that a side of rice is just as necessary to this meal as the kimchee, and I'm happy to accomodate him - the excess will go into fried rice later this week. I grabbed the broth from outside, craped off and discarded the congealed fat from the top, then put it back on the stove to reheat. Two more pots went on the stove to boil water - one for the tduck and one for the dumplings. You could use just one pot for both, I suppose, but Julie can't eat the dumplings because they are made of wheat, and I didn't want to contaminate the tduck, which is made of rice and safe for her.

It all comes together at the last minute as you ladle hot broth into the bowls, then add what I like to call the "floaty stuff" - all the other bits I mentioned before - and it looks like a work of art before you start eating it. I'm sorry, I forgot to take a picture in the rush to get it all to the table while it was hot. Maybe later in the week if we eat the leftovers as planned. Joe tasted it and said it was good. Julie ate it up happily to the last drop. It was not quite my mother-in-law's soup, but it was good.

Still with me? I'll give you a little update on the Sophie sleeping situation. The last two nights have been very good and very bad. She is finally going to bed around 8 and staying put all evening, although she does wake up every couple hours and need quite a bit of soothing. Usually one shift from each of us before she resettles, but we haven't been practicing this that long, and I still prefer this over wide-awake baby all evening. That's the good part. The bad part is that once it's bedtime for us, I've been bringing her into bed, and she's been waking up screaming at me for a good fifteen minutes every hour or so. Totally unlike Sophie, and I think it might be related to new teeth and the little bit of a cold she seems to have. She even had a very low-grade fever this morning. I'm not worried about it other than because I want some freakin' sleep. I've been bringing her downstairs to the guest bedroom so that Julie and Joe aren't disturbed as well, and I'm hoping for better tonight. The worst part is that my standby for late-night soothing is to just stick a breast in her mouth, and that has always worked, but this week she's been biting me with those sharp little teeth to let me know that it's NOT working now. Oy! Thanks for the support and well-wishes for everyone following this ride with me. It really helps.

Okay...now for the rest of the mail bag. Jennifer in Oak Park, thanks for putting me straight about Franklin. Somehow my sleep-deprived brain had missed the part about him not getting to go to Rhinebeck. If you haven't read Franklin yet, you really should go check him out. He is the funniest zen-buddist knitter-guy ever, and his roomate Delores the wayward sheep is pretty cool too.

Katy wrote me a very nice, Pollyanna-esque comment about how lucky I am to be in Minnesota, obviously homesick and forgetting the realities of winter that starts in October and ends in May, during which we get about five hours of sunlight per day for several months and yes, sometimes really really glaringly bright ones too which means there is no cloud cover to keep any heat in and therefore it's even colder. And Katy? The lack of humidity? Yeah, it's really nice. So nice that my skin turns to sand paper and my nasal passages - well, let's not even go there. Still, it was a nice thought, and I do like the Pollyanna attitude when I can summon it myself. So thanks.

Hey, Celeste - sorry to hear you're still having trouble getting y0ur three-year-old to sleep. You know what? I bet you could still do something very similar with her. We did it for Julie when she turned two, and I didn't think it was going to work, but after ten minutes of crying the first night, she's gone to bed pretty darn easy ever since. Just a thought. I know every situation is different, and I'm sending positive sleep vibes your way. I totally feel your pain!

Annie expressed interest in learning to knit in the round, but is still intimidated. Annie, I can only offer you this - just stay calm, find a quiet time and sit yourself down with the directions and materials and just try it. Worst thing that's going to happen is that you waste a few minutes trying. If you're still struggling, so see someone at your LYS for some help. Most stores have either clinic hours (the Yarnery in St. Paul does on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and on Thursday afternoons) or you could take a class where you could learn that and so much more. I'm afraid that me explaining it here isn't going to help you, other than to say that the biggest thing you need is confidence in your own ability to figure it out, and only you can supply that. I hope you try!

I'm off to watch a movie and toil away at the Bavarian Twist sweater for at least a repeat (barring baby wakefullness) and then hopefully some snuggling with the blankie. I can't believe it's only 9:24 and I'm finishing a blog entry.

Rhinebeck

Hi, all you fabulous, lucky knitbloggers out there tripping off to Rhinebeck for the weekend? I hate you. I am so jealous. Bring me back something nice? Not that you're reading in my little cul-de-sac of the knitblogging internet highway. I'll be home with my fabulous family, thinking of you.

I meant to have more of a post tonight - to answer a few questions that have been piling up. We'll have to wait for tomorrow 'cause it's past my bedtime.

A Little Better

For those of you who hadn't noticed, I've been going through a bit of a rough patch the last few weeks, especially this week, but today was a little better. Joe and I had a really good talk about the whole Sophie sleeping thing last night, and agreed on a plan of action that we actually tried out tonight. I have to say, whenever I'm a little down or even verging on depressed about something, coming up with a plan of action - just admitting that there is a problem and starting to work towards a solution - makes me feel a lot better fast.

Anyway, we're following some advice from Dr. Greene, and while it's not Ferberizing, it definitely would fall under the umbrella of cry-it-out according to the die-hard AP parents (one of which I have considered myself since Julie was born - maybe they'll have to take away my membership card now :-) ). We've committed to give this a go for at least a couple of weeks and see what happens. The best part of this plan, as far as I'm concerned, is that neither one of us is stuck with an awake baby all evening long. We're going to take 20 or 30 minute turns. The worst part about sitting in a darkened room trying to get a baby to sleep is not knowing how long you might have to be in there, and it helps me to have a countdown till Joe will show up and relieve me. And the worst part of being in another room while Joe is trying to get a crying baby to sleep is not knowing how much longer it's going to go on, or whether or not I should go try to help. Now we have some rules. Ask me how I feel about our new arrangement in a couple of weeks and I may feel differently, but at least for the moment it is offering me some hope. Really, the end goal is to get the baby to get the sleep that she desperately needs and is not getting now.

In the mean time, yesterday I was still having a pretty bad day, and what does a knitter do who is depressed about not having any free time to herself for knitting all the beautiful yarn she already owns? She goes out and buys more yarn. In this case, I went and checked out a LYS that is just down the road from my house, but which I had not visited for several years. I dragged both girls with me in their double stroller - Julie slept through it and Sophie played with the toys dangling from her car seat while I poked around for a good fifteen minutes. I ended up buying more sock yarn (what else?). This is a skein of Schaeffer Anne, and of course the picture does not do the colours justice.



Now let's look at some cute kid pictures!

I call this one Soylent Green. Yesterday I caught Julie assembling a people sandwich out of her wooden play bread and a whole pile of old-school Fisher Price Little People. She even looks a bit like a savage cannibal in this picture. I think what was really going on was that she was pretending to be either a cat or a dog and that the little people were kibble. The kid has the capacity to totally crack me up, even when I'm having a really crappy day.



Here's Sophie during lunch time today. I gave her a little bowl with some puffed rice cereal - the unsweetened kind. It kept her busy for a good twenty minutes. She's still trying to refine her pincer-grasp technique, but she did manage to get some cereal in her mouth on her own.



Then Julie got involved. I didn't manage to capture the full depth of the cuteness, I'm sorry to say. But Julie was feeding cereal bits to Sophie one at a time and Sophie was really enjoying it, opening her little mouth for the next bite and even grabbing Julie's hand to suck it in even faster. They were making each other laugh, and it was very sweet. This also did nothing to hurt my mood.



Finally, I was working on the blankie a bit this morning after breakfast while the girls played. I finished a square and spread it out on the floor for a second to get a good look at it. I wasn't planning on taking any pictures, but then this happened and I had no choice. If nothing else, Julie makes a good marker for scale. But it was fun watching her roll around on it, and we played a little game of color-matching with it for a few minutes. I love her smile in this picture. She's being totally naughty because I was asking her to hold still for a second, and instead she kept wiggling and flipping her skirt up with her legs, so I had to just snap the shot during a brief pause. Still, it's the best one of the batch.

More SP9 and Socktoberfest Questions Answered

Shelby, my hostess for the Secret Pal 9 swap, put up a couple different lists of questions on her blog a few days ago, so I'm going to do my best to answer them.

List your favorite:

Actor - Hm. So many out there...I think Chow Yun Fat is pretty hot. I also like Matthew Fox as Jack on Lost, and Patrick Dempsey in Grey's Anatomy is nice to look at as well. Tom Hanks is funny, and oh I just can't decide.
Actress - Probably Jody Foster.
Animal - Anything on Cute Overload, or maybe my two cats Daisy and Harry. I do miss having a dog, though.
Band - I don't really have a favorite band. A long, long time ago I would have said U2 or REM, I listened to Bob Marley and the Wailers while I was in labor with Sophie, Beatles is easy to go to. These days, for better or for worse, I listen to a lot of children's music. With my kids, of course.
Book - This is impossible. East of Eden, maybe? Villette? Jane Eyre? I really enjoy the Harry Potter books, too, and always run right out to buy a copy when they come out. Too bad the series is almost over.
Bubble Bath - Ha! As if I get to take bubble baths. I don't really like froufie stuff in my bath even if I do get one - too likely to cause problems, and scents don't tend to agree with me.
Candy - Chocolate. My very very favorite is one particular piece that Godiva makes - it's shaped like a starfish, and is filled with lovely raspberry flavored goo. They make a candy bar with that flavor, too. Too bad I have to stay somewhat away from chocolate for Sophie's sake, although I have been sneaking the Junior Mints out of what is supposed to be our Halloween hand-out candy. I think I'm going to have to buy more for the trick-or-treaters.
Color - Hm. I think I look best in pink, but I've been wearing more green lately - the non-Kelly types - because I think maybe it brings out the green in my eyes.
Drink - Joe made a really good home-brew beer a while back. A nice, lighter ale.
Flower - Daisies.
Food - Chocolate cake, if I have to pick just one. But I love anything my MIL cooks (korean food), hamburgers and fries, sushi, pho, pizza (veggie deluxe), and about a bazillion other things.
Lip Balm - I have an Aveda one that I like now. There used to be a Body Shop one with honey it it, but they don't make it any more. I like the stick kind rather than the goopy kind.
Lotion - Aveda Hand Relief. It actually does have a bit of a scent to it, but it is a very light scent, sort of citrusy/herbal, and although it is a very rich cream, it isn't greasy at all and doesn't leave a filmy feeling on your hands. I have really dry, chapped hands starting about now through spring, especially since I'm constantly washing them after changing diapers/toileting Julie and while cooking.
Movie - That is so hard. I'm not really a watch-a-movie over and over kind of person. I do love the way I cry at the end of Steel Magnolias every time.
Place- Home
Song - Keep on the Sunny Side
TV Show - I've been catching up with Grey's Anatomy on DVD lately, and really like it. I've also been watching Smallville, 24, Monk, and Lost; all of which I like. My favorite show used to be ER, but I've lost track of it. Maybe I should add the latest seasons to my Netflix queue.
Yarn- Pomfret by Brunswick
Vacation Spot - Anywhere tropical with a nice beach...we really enjoyed Hawaii a couple years ago, and I would love to go back there some time. There are so many places we'd love to visit when we eventually have the time and money. I'm a little sad that we never made it to Korea before we had kids, and now it's looking like Joe's brother may move home soon, so it'll be even less likely for us to go in the near future.

Okay, that's the first set of questions. Shelby also posted the following list last week, and I'm finally going to answer it now:

1. Where is your favorite knitting spot?
On the couch in front of the TV. But I also love it when both of the girls fall asleep in the car and I can pull into the garage or a parking spot and knit till someone wakes up. Lovely!

2. If you suddenly could never knit again (shudder) - what would you do instead?
Please don't make me consider that. Maybe I'd try weaving. Maybe I'd try to develop a new relationship with my sewing machine. Maybe I'd catch up with the girls' scrapbooks. Probably I would just melt into a puddle on the floor.

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world - where would you go and why?
Probably Korea - I'd love to know more about my family's heritage, and I think it would just be interesting and fun.

4. When you were little - What did you want to do "when you grew up?" Are you doing it?
I wanted to be a broadcast journalist. I came close to following that path, even went to college for it till I realized that the hours and lifestyle associated with it were not for me. Before I was a Mommy, I worked as a computer programmer, and mostly liked it when it wasn't too stressful.

5. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
There's a local ice cream parlor called Sebastian Joe's that has a flavor called Chocolate Coyote (I think) that is chocolate with cayenne pepper mixed in. They also sometimes have a chocolate one with raspberry mixed in that I love.

Okay, and finally, Lolly asked some Socktoberfest sock questions way back on October 3. I suppose I could at least answer these since I'm not getting much sock knitting done (I did get the second heel turned on my Jaywalkers, though).

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?
I started making socks right after I finished my first knitting project, a sweater, back in 2001. I pretty much taught myself using a pattern.

What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time?
My first pair was Regia Cotton Colori - here they were new:


From the beginning, they were a bit loose and floppy, but I have worn them almost weekly from October to April each year and they are still wearable, albiet with a bit of darning here and there. I don't wear them so much any more just because I don't want them to die entirely just yet.

What would you have done differently?
I knit that first pair on size 1 or 2 needles, and now all fingering weight socks are done on zeros with a conscious attempt to knit more tightly. Also, the pattern had me use stockinette for the heel flap and I now know that one *must* use a heel stitch if doing a flap-type sock.

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?
Knitting with Mountain Colors Bearfoot is a dream, as is anything Lorna's Laces or Koigu. It is unfortunate that these yarns don't hold up better on wear. In the end, I think I am usually happiest with a Regia or Opal or Trekking of the self-striping variety.

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?
I don't crochet if I can help it. I always knit my socks on 5 Pony Pearl DPNs, although I have tried the 2 circular and Magic Loop methods.

Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)
Short-row, 90% of the time.

How many pairs have you made?
I lost track quite a ways back. I think I have at least 20 pairs in my personal collection, and have probably given away not quite that many.

Old Friends

I'm going to tell you all about my dear friend Kippy's visit, but first let me apologize to my internet friends. I meant to be back much sooner with this update and more, but life has once again gotten in the way. I don't know how many times I can describe the way parenting takes over my day right now and still feel like the world can't possibly understand how happy and sometimes miserable I am at the same time. They wake up at 7 in the morning, and this week Sophie has not been going to sleep till I do around 11 in the evening. And there really aren't that many naps involved. Somehow, Joe managed to get Sophie down a little while ago, and hopefully she will stay asleep long enough for me to get this typed. I love my girls. I love spending my days with them. I just can't help wishing that they would freakin' sleep a little more often than I do. Wash, rinse, repeat. Sorry for the broken record.

Oh, and I'm coming back to add that about 30 seconds after I typed that, she woke up crying, I went to go try and soothe her, and she didn't like that one bit. No, bucked in my arms and kept right on crying. Kept right on crying when I put her back in her crib and tried patting her back and/or holding her hand. The crying ramped right up to a full-on ear-shattering sobbing scream and stayed there for about the next fifteen minutes while I kept trying to soothe then continued while I ran down the stairs to hide from it. See, I just can't face another evening of sitting in the living room watching her play when I know she should be sleeping and I should be writing blog entries. No, cry it out is not right, but insane mommies are even less right. Joe, on the other hand, thought better and ran up to take over where I left off. He did whatever kind of voodoo soothing he does upstairs for a few minutes, then took her down to the basement to do some other kind of voodoo for a few more minutes, and now I think he has her out in the living room. God help me if he asks me to take back over, because if I do, she's going back in the crib. I think I finally may have come unglued.

Now, on to the fabulous visit from the dear old friend. Let's start with a couple of pictures. This is Kippy and me back in maybe 1991. I'm pretty sure this was taken the year I was a Senior in high school, and she was a Junior. Kippy had moved away with her parents a couple years earlier, but we still saw each other at holidays and for brief visits on occasion. This picture is a great example of how hard I tried to slouch low enough to hide the fact that I towered over most of the other girls my age.



Here is Kippy and me on Saturday, right before I drove her to another friends house and headed over to the yarn store to teach a class. We are still very much the same people, just grown up and lifeworn by about fifteen years. And I finally learned to stand up fairly straight most of the time.



This visit was mainly about catching up. We chatted a lot about memories from our days growing up together. We compared memories - mostly confirming some pretty scary, sad stuff for my part, but also some happy and fun things too. We ate sushi and apologized for things said and done long ago that had already been forgiven, if not entirely forgotten. We shared experiences from the last ten years of our lives, good and bad. We've both been through big losses and recovered to find better versions of ourselves and truer paths. We took the kids to the Mall of America and shopped most of a day. I bought Kippy her first chai latte, which I hope is not going to become too much of an addiction. We traded notes on makeup and clothes and even a recipe or two. Perhaps best of all, I taught Kippy how to knit. Or at least gave her a good start. I think I told her about a million times to go check out the Yarn Barn when she gets home.

It was a good visit, and I'm glad she came. I did use up most of my brownie points with Joe, I'm afraid. He had to get the girls to bed Thursday night while I went out for an expensive meal, then I handed Sophie off to him on Friday night so that Kippy and I could talk some more, then Saturday he got another dose of parenting while I went to teach my class. Poor guy barely got a weekend since he spent all day Sunday doing fall chores outside. At least we managed to go out for dinner with some friends as a family on Saturday night, and everyone enjoyed some good barbecue at Cap's. Here's Sophie getting a kiss from our little friend Max, who is Julie's age.



For all my ranting, the girls really are doing well. Sophie is doing new tricks left and right, which I sure hope mostly accounts for the lack of sleep. Today we ate lunch at Panera and I let her gum up a piece of my baguette.



I think she liked it. Julie wanted to walk around the mall afterwards (the small, barely-more-than-a-strip mall one near our house) and I let her climb on the kiddie rides. I refuse to put money in them, but she still likes sitting there. We love Richard Scarry books, and that worm's name is Lowly. Julie enjoyed riding with him in his apple car.



Not much knitting is going on here. I've been meaning to do an update on that bavarian twist sweater for Julie, with a title something like Despair. I'd really like to do a couple of questionaires for the swap and knitalong I'm doing at the moment, but they will have to wait till my brain is a bit less fried and the baby is a bit less awake. I'd better go relieve the husband so he can do his ironing.

Last Stop before Kippyville

Where to begin?

Well, it's Socktoberfest, so let's start with the socks. I've just turned the heel on one of my Jaywalkers, and I have to admit that I'm a tad disappointed with them so far. Not disappointed enough to rip the things out or stop knitting them, but just not super in love with them. I am in love with the yarn. I love the bright colors (which are not showing up right in the pictures and are far prettier than the screen shows), I love the weird overtwisted single-ply, I love the slight scratchiness of the fiber (yes, I am a freak). I love the way the stripes are working out sort of diagonal, and especially how that combines with the chevron pattern. What's left not to love? I really don't love the weird little dimples that formed where the chevron pattern starts at the top of the toes. They are virtually impossible to see in this picture:



But they are pretty obvious in real life. I know there must be a way to avoid those freaky little bumps where the decreases start, but I didn't figure it out in time not to do it on both of the socks. I think it would almost have to involve some short rows right in the middle of the top or something. I do not want to go there. The other thing that I'm not totally loving is the sizing. They're a little loose around my skinny little feet, and I like snug socks. Even so, I still like them. And because I love this yarn so much, but abhor reknitting frogged yarn, I am going to keep going on them and hope that a nice little blocking does some good for those naughty puckers. (Oh, god, what kind of freaks is google going to bring me with that phrase?)

Okay, we're going to stop for a moment with the knitting talk and switch to children. People, my barely 8-month-old is pulling up to a stand any time and every time she can. I am not ready for this yet. I want more of the stage in which she sits happily in one spot on the floor and drools all over the toys within reach. How many times do I have to catch her crawling off to the bathroom to try to eat the cap off the bolt that holds the toilet down before I am everyone in the house is fully trained in keeping the bathroom door closed? And did I mention that she has teeth now? That's right. Two. Teeth. Bottom center. Poor thing is trying to figure out how to nurse comfortably with very sharp, ragged edges poking her in the tongue. And she's still valiantly fighting sleep - but who can blame her with all this development going on?

As for Julie - the butter and the cooked milk went smoothly. We tried putting cheese on a couple of things this week, and that went less wonderfully. We had some night waking and crying those nights, and it's hard to say for certain that it was the cheese, but I'm leaning in that direction. We're taking a few days to regroup and may try some kefir in a smoothie and/or go back to the cooked milk and butter. I know I'm not ready to try cold milk yet! Someone suggested trying the allergen's in the doctor's office. Good idea, but Julie has delayed reactions to most things. Usually, we don't see a problem till that night, when she wakes up screaming bloody murder. Also, her reactions are usually not life-threatening. They are just really sad and hard to deal with. I mean, who wants to wake up at 3 a.m. to an inconsolable child? I got a lovely e-mail with a link to a gluten-free recipe website. Yep. Very cute, very nice stuff there. Unfortunately, like most sites and cookbooks, totally inappropriate for multiple food allergies because they use lots of eggs, dairy and soy. In the mean time, we had some awesome chicken-wildrice soup for dinner last night, and some pretty good pork chops tonight.

Moving on, Georgia needs some more help getting going on her socks. Georgia, the most important thing to remember is to breathe, relax, and take your time. You're not knitting a sock in one go, you're practicing knitting socks. Sort of like how people practice yoga, maybe. Let's look at that photo from the other day again, shall we?



There are three needles in the picture. Needle A is the one on the left, the one we are knitting stitches off of. Needle B is the one sharing a loop with Needle A, sort of below in the middle there. Needle C is the one on the top right. We can ignore C because it is simply holding the stitches at the other end of the round. Just pretend it doesn't exist, other than to note that I usually like to come in with the empty needle (B) below needle C because it seems to help me avoid ladders. So what's happening in this picture is that I've just inserted Needle B into the first loop on Needle A and am getting ready to wrap the yarn around B and fish it through to make a new loop. At that point, I will slide all the loops on A up toward the end and pop the first one, the one with the new loop through it, off the end. They are normally all a little closer to the tip of A, but I had them further back in this picture because I was trying to keep them all on the needle while stretching everything out for the picture-taking.

Another little tip that I have for someone new at the double-point knitting is that the first row or two after casting on are definitely the hardest. You have to be so careful not to twist as you're joining the round, and there's not much fabric to hold on to. If you're new at all this, consider knitting a couple of rows back and forth, then joining it together once it's established. You can either do this on a practice piece (highly recommended - it really takes away the pressure to be perfect) or on your sock and just seam it up using the loose end you have to weave in anyway.

Okay, so find a block of quality knit time when you can relax and concentrate. Sit down and remember to breathe as you just force yourself to let go of the fear and give it a try. You can do it! Also, don't be afraid to go to your local yarn shop and ask someone to watch you doing it and tell you you got it right. Some shops have clinic hours where they have a person on staff just waiting to help you out. That's the best I can do for you tonight. Best of luck!

One last thought - as I mentioned, my friend Kippy from middle school is scheduled to be here in the morning. It should be a lot of fun. I have some tenative plans for us, some ideas for things to do and how to manage showing her a good time while dealing with my lovely children and keeping everything copasetic. We'll see how it all pans out. I'm happy to say that at least I managed to get most of my planned chores done before she showed up. The baby barf spots have been spot-cleaned from the hardwood floors. The sheets on the guest bed have been washed. I even took care of the necessary prep work for my knitting class on Saturday so that I wouldn't have to worry about it while she's here. The only thing that didn't get done is the super-cleaning of the upstairs bathroom. The one that she will see very little of anyway, because it is on the floor where only the family bedrooms are. I'll give it a few swipes in the morning and call it a win.

Carolyn e-mailed me to sympathize on how messy my yarn-stash/guest room must be, and I am happy to say that there is very little mess in here now. It is, in fact, quite neat. It is the way I like it to be - quite a bit of stuff around, but all pleasantly displayed in an eclectic arrangement on shelves and tables and in the closet. Definitely not the jumble I whined about a few weeks ago. I'm trying not to feel too happy with myself so as to avoid tempting fate. Anyway, like I said before, I probably won't get a chance to post again till after she leaves, so till Saturday night or so.

In the mean time, go amuse yourselves with the story about how I almost died at the hands of a two-year-old with a Sharpie marker this time last year.

Taking Inventory

So the other night when I was typing up my survey for the secret pal thingie, it got me thinking about my knitting needles and reminded me that I have a list of them written up. It's actually typed up, in my Sidekick, which I carry with me most of the time and can refer to if I'm ever in a yarn shop and looking at needles and wondering if I should buy a new set for some reason or another. I never remember to look at this list in the moment, and this list is really not helpful in that situation because what I really need is a knitting-needle wish list. Because I never know what I'm going to need for a given project while I'm in the store. I know what I need at midnight in my living room when I'm dressed in my flying-pig pajamas.

So I looked up my inventory and ran around the house tracking down needles in projects and in all the various places where they hang out, updated the list and came up with this:

Knitting Needle Inventory

0 (2 mm)
6" Pony Pearl dpn (6)
6" Inox dpn (2)
6" Crystal Palace dpn
32" Addi Turbo (2)

1 (2.25 mm)
6" Pony Pearl dpn (1 4/5)
8" Pony Pearl dpn
7.5" Brittany dpn (4/5)

1.5 (2.5 mm)
6" Skacel dpn

1.75 (2.75 mm)
5" Bryspun
7.5" Brittany dpn (4/5)

2 (3.0 mm)
7.5" Swallow Casein dpn
8" Pony Pearl dpn
20" Addi Turbo
32" Bamboo - Korea

3 (3.25 mm)
6" Pony Pearl dpn (3)
24" Inox
12" Addi Turbo
24" Addi Turbo (2)
32" Addi Turbo
32" Bamboo - Korea

4 (3.5 mm)
6" Pony Pearl dpn
7.5" Brittany dpn
20" Addi Turbo
29" Susan Bates
32" Addi Turbo

5 (3.75 mm)
8" Crystal Palace dpn
16" Susan Bates
26" Crystal Palace bamboo
29" Susan Bates
40" Addi Turbo


6 (4.0 mm)
5" Brittany dpn
10" Pony Pearl dpn
24" Inox
32" Addi Turbo
36" Susan Bates

7 (4.5 mm)
8" Bryspun dpn
20" Clover bamboo

8 (5 mm)
5" Brittany dpn
16" Susan Bates
24" Susan Bates
29" Susan Bates

10 (6 mm)
32" Addi Turbo

It probably needs a bit of decryption, especially for any non-knitters reading along. The first line of each group is the US size of needle gauge, followed by the millimeter size. This number refers to the diameter of the needles. Things get a little tricky between size 1 and 2 because different manufacturers have different ideas about sizing. Okay, each line after the first in a group describes a type of needle. The length, the brand name, dpn if they are the straight double-pointed variety (versus circulars, the type with nylon wire in the middle), and if I own more than one set then the number owned in parenthesis.

Why on Earth, one might ask, does a girl need six sets of size zero 6" Pony Pearl dpn knitting needles? Maybe because she hasn't gotten around to buying sets seven and eight? Maybe because these are her favorite knitting needles in the world and she is afraid they will some day be discontinued. Maybe because she is guilty of occasionally having six fingering-weight socks on the needles simultaneously. Maybe just because she is a knitter, and knitters tend to hoarde the materials we love. (But don't we all). But this leads to another point I would like to make. One really should have multiple sets of dpns for each size. If I'm making sleeves or pant legs, I want to be able to have both on the needles at the same time. Why? Because that makes me happy. Because I can make weird changes to the second item in the pair before I forget that I made the weird change in the first one. Don't talk to me about taking good notes.

There is one more notation used in this list a couple places. It looks something like this: (4/5)
and represents the fact that I tracked the set down and it now contains only four out of the five original needles. At some point, one of the needles in the set has either been lost or broken. But as long as there are still four needles left, one certainly doesn't discard the set. I can't tell you how many individual size 0 6" Pony Pearls I have lost in time, but eventually it all evens out in the end.

Updating this list made me a little sad because most of the additions since the last time the list was updated belonged to my friend Julie. My best friend from college who died last year from ovarian cancer. Her family gave me all of her knitting gear (seeing as how it was my fault she had gotten into it). So now I have some bamboo needles that I never would have bought on my own, but that I am happy to have and sad to hold. I wish Julie were still here trying to knit with them. I miss my friend very much. I was looking through the box of wedding proofs that I brought home from the photographer's the other day, and it made me really want to be back there on that day. The last day that I was with her before we knew the horrors that awaited. The last day of innocent friendship, gossiping and laughing together. I didn't mean to go all sappy and sad here. I'm just being honest.



Anyway, speaking of old friends. I've got another old friend, my best friend from junior high school, coming into town on Thursday. I haven't seen her in about ten years. She'll be staying with us for a couple of nights and it should be interesting getting reacquainted. It might mean no posts for a few days, as I'll be busy having fun and entertaining, and the computer is in the guest bedroom. You'll understand, I'm sure.

Weekend and Stuff

There was no blog post last night because in a rare fit of sanity I went to bed a little earlier than normal. To tell the truth, I was so exhausted I didn't really have a choice. I'm still tired now, but here I am up late again, and I just can't seem to help myself. I'm going up as soon I show you some pictures. We did a little raking of the yard on Sunday, and here I am with Sophie in the sling and Julie, who dug the pool toys out of the garage and wore them around calling them her clothes. We had some fun playing in the pile of leaves.



Sophie loves to stand up, with a little help from one of us. She'll even walk along a bit if you hold her hands. I can't believe my baby is growing up this fast already. Her first tooth finally popped through the gums this morning, and the second one should follow any moment now.



Sunday night we went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant for some pho. Julie is getting pretty good at using chopsticks. You can't tell it in the picture, but she's using the wrong end. She has insisted on using them the last few times we've been there, and has really figured it out mostly by herself and watching us.


Here's me with Sophie on my lap. See how tired I looked? That's why I had to go to bed early. I should add that I managed to slurp my noodles down with Sophie on my lap almost the entire time because she didn't want to sit in the high chair. And I managed to do it without letting her reach the bowl and tip it over. No small feat.


Georgia wanted to see how I hold my socks as I knit on my dpns. Your wish is my command, Georgia. Let me point out that everything is stretched out a bit so you can see it better. I'm not sure exactly which part you were struggling with, but let me know and I'll try to give you some advice. I'm tempted to throw all kinds of advice at you, but I'd rather be specific.


One last thing - cutting your knitting - or steeking - is not that hard or scary. I don't think I've ever heard a horror story of someone screwing it up irrevocably. Well, maybe I've heard a story of someone realizing a mistake in their knitting after they'd already cut, and they couldn't frog it. But the actual doing of the cutting is sort of exhilarating, once you've carefully sewn or crocheted to stabilize the neighboring stitches. I think I did a post or two about steeks a while back.

Sock Update and More!

Seeing as how it's Socktoberfest and all, I thought I should post an update on the state of the socks. Yesterday I ran out to the photographer's studio and placed the order for the photoshoot we just did, and while he tallied up the damage, I got to sit and knit for about 20 minutes in peace. I swear, that's the longest I've gotten to just sit and knit for at least a week, and it was heavenly. That little session got me up to the heel shaping on one of my Jaywalkers, and the other one is just behind. I don't think I've shown off the other pair just yet, but I started them the day we went to Eau Claire to see Stephanie. I've been saving them for distracted-knitting, since they are plain stockinette and I could knit on them in my sleep. I'm really liking this yarn and the way the colorway knits up.



This week has been much less stressful in Julie terms - we've been butting heads much less than we were a couple of weeks ago. Sophie, on the other hand, has been having a very hard time going to and staying asleep. It almost reminds me of the bad-old-days we had with Julie. I'm still not sure what's going on with that, but I do think she's having some bad gas, which might be part of it. Confession time: Joe's mom came home from Germany last weekend and brought a shipment of chocolate with her. It's gone now. So maybe it's my own fault. I told the pediatrician about this the other day when we went in and he practically laughed me out of his office (not our normal doc, just the one we could get into on short notice). Anyway, no sleep for Sophie means no free time for me and very little sleep. It'll get better soon enough. It always does.

In the mean time, here's where we were today. At the mall play area. Not the smartest place to be on a beautiful fall day, but I guess we don't make the best choices when we're sleep-deprived. The girls had a great time, and Sophie had fun trying to stand up inside the fake canoe.



Okay, I've had several good questions via comments and e-mail in the last few days, so let's get crackin' on those.

Amy saw me in Eau Claire last month and wants to know more about the sweater I was wearing that day. Here's a picture of me in the sweater when it was new:

That's Noro Silk Garden, the pattern is very basic but my own design. It's just a basic set-in sleeve cardigan, but I knit the front all in one piece and cut it down the middle so that the stripes would match the back in width and also match each other perfectly across the button band. Here's another confession - I knit this one mostly on a machine. I don't do much with my machines, but this yarn was languishing in the closet and I wanted to wear it. It was right after Julie was born and I had about as much free time then as I have now. So I whipped out all the stockinette parts on my Singer LK-150, then hand knit the ribbing parts and seamed it all together. What would have taken me months turned in to the project of a week. For knitters with more time on their hands, and more experience with machines, you could start and finish the project in a day.

Maggi wrote to tell me she is starting a crocheted mitered square blankie and wants to know if she can join the knit along - heck, yeah! You all should go check it out - it's pretty. For anyone who never got around to sending me a package of left over yarn - Maggi could use some. I imagine if you put your e-mail address in her comments and ask for a snail-mail address, she'd be happy to take what you have.

Carolyn wants to know what the heck I meant by navy green. Uh, I always thought that term meant a really dark, somewhat muddy green. Maybe I made it up long long ago. Or maybe its a regional thing or something? Anyone else ever heard this term?

Venice 23 wants to know which secret pal exchange I've joined. It's this one. Signups have closed and I just got my assignment today, so for those of you interested, you'll just have to watch and enjoy it all vicariously through me and the 400 other people playing this round. I'm not supposed to say much about who my pal is because it *is* a secret, but I'll tell you that she's in a foreign country.

Vicki started a blankie and wants to join the knit along. Her blankie is looking good too...she's got pictures of it a few posts back, so just scroll down her main page a bit.

Okay, that's it for now - I'm going to try to get my sidebar updated before I go to bed. I'm so glad I have a class to teach tomorrow - I get to leave the house alone!

Got Milk?

A few weeks back when we had Julie's blood drawn during her three-year checkup, the doctor ran some tests to check on the state of her allergies. We have, after all, been meticulous about keeping her away from her allergens in the hopes that she will eventually outgrow some or even all of them. The news came back potentially good - the RAST tests were all negative, although these tests are known to be less than perfectly accurate. So then we went back to the allergist last week to discuss our options and had another round of skin-prick tests. The wheat and soy, which had previously come back negative, despite Julie's obvious reactions to them, came back positive. However, the eggs and dairy came back negative. What does all this testing mean? The allergist suggested that we slowly try reintroducing dairy and eggs in Julie's diet to see what happens.

When you're dealing with food allergies, it's usually the protiens that cause the reaction from your immune system. Sometimes, cooking foods breaks down or denatures some of the protiens, which can make them less allergenic (but not always, and not for everybody). It took me a few days to work up the nerve to go ahead and cook something for Julie to try. After all, we've been working hard for the last year and a half NOT to expose her to this stuff, doing our best to avoid the scream-filled nights and cranky-pants days that made up the first year and a half of her life.

Finally, I made some soup with butter in the roux instead of the olive oil I normally use. She ate it and slept just fine. Woke up the next day and everything was normal. Thoughts of real butter cookies for this Christmas started floating around in my head. I have to admit that I started actually hoping it might be true. Last night, I took another small step forward. I made chicken pot pie with milk cooked in the sauce. Still no problem, as far as I can tell. Visions of real cream sauces and puddings started filling my head.

We're not out of the woods for milk yet. I need to keep feeding her cooked milk for another week or so and see if there's any cumulative change, then maybe we'll try some yogurt or cheese. I think I'm going to hold back on giving her plain uncooked milk any time soon - she does fine with rice milk. But being able to eat things containing dairy opens up a multitude of possibilities! I've been wanting to feed her kefir for the probiotics, and many of the gluten-free products contain dairy, but now we'll be able to consider using them. There's a gluten-free bakery in town, and maybe now we'll actually be able to patronize it. Maybe next month we'll be ready to try some eggs, and that could open up even more possibilities.

It's all very exciting, and I'm trying to rein in my hopes a bit just in case we start to see some kind of reaction. Meanwhile, here's what the little imp got up to this morning while I was nursing Sophie in the other room. I should have had the kitchen gate closed but didn't, and she wanted to play with one of the craft kits I had left on top of the fridge. The kid started trying to stack the kitchen stools and was about to start climbing up them when I caught her.



To keep things balanced, here's a picture of Sophie and me on the swing at the park a couple of days ago.



I'm off to bed. I'll have some knitting content tomorrow!

Secret Pal 9

So, this Secret Pal thing is starting up again, and I've signed right up. I've never participated in it before, but I've watched with envy as people received their packages in previous swaps, so I figured I'd better jump on the wagon instead of being left behind yet again. Anyway, they're going to match us with our partners pretty soon, and I guess we're supposed to fill out this little questionnaire to help our secret pal get us better stuff. Here we go...

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love wool best, but I've never met an animal fiber yet that I didn't like. My absolute favorite yarn ever is called Pomfret, by Brunswick. They stopped making it twenty-some years ago, but it can still be found on e-bay, at thrift shops, and in stashes. It amazes me how much seems to find its way into my yarn closet. I don't like petroleum-based fibers, unless it is a bit of nylon built into sock yarn to make it last. I don't like things that are excessively bumpy or fluffy or flashy, if that makes any sense.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I keep my double-points and circulars in a 3" three-ring binder filled with pencil pouches labelled with the respective sizes. The needles are all in their original packaging inside the pouches. I suppose I'm a little bit anal-retentive about keeping these organized, but I just loathe digging around looking for the right needle when I want it. I don't use single-point needles for the most part, but somehow I've ended up with a bit of a collection of the things. They sit in a Ball jar way up on top of a book case, sort of for decoration. I also have a small pouch in which I keep my odds and ends, the stuff that travels along in the knitting bag. A friend of mine makes them out of recycled kimono fabric.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting since the fall of 2000, so I guess six years. A very nice lady, who I now consider a good friend, but whom at the time I knew only through another friend, sat me down with a group of women in her living room one evening and taught us how to cast on, knit and purl. I had no idea at the time what a great knitter Jean is, but I was incredibly grateful that someone was finally teaching me a skill I had wanted all my life. After that night, I practiced on my own and picked up lots by collecting books and picking the brains of every knitter I meet. I would say my skill level is advanced.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, I have an Amazon wish list. Just enter Shelly Kang. It's not all that great because whenever I think of something I want, I forget it by the time I get to the computer and remember that there was something I wanted to add. Some day, maybe my husband will buy me that Knitting Technology book for a holiday. It looks really cool.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
I generally avoid scented products. My father was super-sensitive to perfumes and hated them so much, I wasn't even allowed to bring fashion magazines into the house because of the smelly advertisements. I guess because I wasn't exposed to them much growing up, scents generally irritate me after not very long, too.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I love sweets. I love chocolate most of all. I'm trying to stay away from it because I think maybe it irritates Sophie through my breast milk when I eat it, plus I'm sort of trying to lose the pregancy weight still. Even so, a tiny bit of something high quality would be irresistable.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I don't spin. Spinning looks incredibly appealing to me, but I have too much knitting to do as it is. I figure I'll try spinning when I run out of overflowing knitting projects. I do a little bit of scrapbooking when nobody is looking, but I try to keep that really simple and am neither up on nor interested in the latest trends. I've dabbled in lots of other media here and there, but never with the passion I have for knitting. I'm always looking for little kits or activities to do with Julie, as well.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I think maybe I am an old fogey when it comes to music. Or boring at the very least. To be honest, I just don't get that in to music. Joe is incredibly into music, and I sponge off him when I want something. I'll drop a few names, but they're all over the map. Old REM, Bob Marley, The Eagles, Simon and Garfunkle, Cat Stevens, The Beastie Boys, Al Green, Bjork...I like generally happy music, easily accessible stuff, I'm afraid. Most of the time these days I'm listening to kid's music, but I try to compromise by finding stuff that I can stand like Jerry Garcia and Dave Grisman's Not for Kids Only, or No! by They Might be Giants. Of course, we end up listening to a lot of Raffi and Sesame Street as well. To be honest, I'd rather be listening to a book on tape. Yes, I can do CDs and MP3s.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I think I look best in pinks and some shades of green. And blue goes with everything. I look horrible in yellow and black.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm a wife and mom to two girls, just three and almost 8 months. Julie is in size 5T clothes, Sophie is in 12 months clothes. We have two cats, Daisy and Harry.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, maybe. My winter coat is navy green.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I do a little bit of everything, always have a pair or three of socks on the needles, and I do a lot of things for my girls. Coming up in the lineup are a lace shawl and a Bohus sweater for myself one of these days.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A pair of Jaywalker socks, another pair of cotton blend socks from the toe up, a bavarian twist sweater for Julie, and a very large blankie on very small needles.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I use circular and double-points. Addi Turbos are the perfect circulars, and Pony Pearls the perfect double-points.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes and yes.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
There's a sweater in there that I started a couple of years ago and set aside out of frustration. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and may go back to it. It would be beautiful when it's finished. I tend to be pretty honest with myself and if I'm not going to finish it, out it goes.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
I like Christmas quite a bit, even though I'm not a christian.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Knitting paraphrenalia..books, needles, magazines, yarn... I have quite a few bags of various shapes and sizes too, and I have to restrain myself when it comes to baskets.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
What a difficult question! I have so many things, it is hard for me to come up with something more, especially since I spend so much of my energy keeping myself from wanting it all. I'm sort of enchanted by some of the KidSilk Haze shawls that I've seen in the blogosphere, and I do tend to linger over the lace books at Schoolhouse Press. I subscribe to Interweave, Vogue and Knitters, and get Cast On with my TKGA membership too.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
There aren't many I can think of that I haven't tried already. I love trying new ways of doing things, though, and it makes me really happy to learn arcane techniques that most people don't know about. I haven't tried some of those cool twisty cast-ons and edgings from eastern european traditions, like what Nancy Bush decribes. Must do that one day.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Oh, yes. Socks socks socks. Always with the socks. I wear size 11 women's shoes - 9" around the widest part of my foot, 10" tippy toe to back of heel. I like the cuffs on my socks to equal the length of the foot, which is a little longer than most people make 'em.

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
January 25.

Gosh Darn it, I had more plans for this post, but Sophies awake. Good Night!

Socktoberfest!

In case you hadn't heard about it, there's a little internet party going on called Socktoberfest. I think the name really speaks for itself. It's not an exchange, it's not a contest, it's just a celebration of hand knit socks. This is totally my kind of web-a-thingie. A celebration. About socks! With no commitment! Go read more about it at Lolly's blog. The best part? I'm pretty sure there won't be any drunks doing the duck/chicken dance. I will be celebrating by plowing away at the two pairs of socks currently on the needles. You just saw the Jaywalkers a day or two ago, and I'll show you the others in the near future.

Hoookay. Let's look at some kid pictures. We'll start with an extremely sad one. Sophie has been having some bad days lately. I think it's a combination of teething pain and the nasty little cold we've all been fighting. I did finally drag her in to the pediatrician today just to make 100% sure it's not her ears or anything else I might be missing. He didn't find anything, so at least I know I've done everything I can. A few days ago, I broke down and fed her some Tylenol late in the afternoon. Doping up a baby is never easy, but this time she put up a huge fight and somehow we ended up with this:



I promise, I was just as miserable as she looks. To get her clean and to make up for the awful experience, I immediately stripped her down and put her in a nice warm bath. Within seconds she was crawling around giggling, trying to catch the toys. Here we are later that evening, all cleaned up and feeling a little better about ourselves. I love this picture, dorky glasses, pajamas and all.


Here's a picture of Julie with her birthday present from us. It's a running bike. No pedals, they just ride along on it Flintstones style. Supposedly, it's better at teaching kids how to ride bikes because they can focus on learning their balance without worrying about the pedal motion. Julie keeps asking Joe to buy the pedals for it, and that cracks me up.


I thought I'd provide just a bit more evidence that I do spend time on the floor playing with my girls, or really maybe I just love these pics and think you may too. Sophie trying to stuff the Fisher Price Farmer dude in her mouth. This was late a couple of nights ago - she's been staying up all manic and resisting any and all attempts to convince her that bedtime is long past. She's with Joe in the living room right now, 'cause I needed a break.



More happy hugs from my little girl.


Alright, I'm gonna go see what I can do about getting her to bed.

Dealing with Dairy Allergies

Cass wanted a little advice on how to live with a dairy allergy in the family. Now, THAT is the kind of comment to which I am happy to respond. And, as a quick aside, thanks again for all the supportive comments. I think I've made up my mind not to respond to any critical comments for a while at least. Even when they are politely put, as the latest was, it takes too much of my precious energy to explain every detail. No, I am not perfect, but I'm well aware of that, and quite happy with who I am. I spent the first twenty-some years of my life being told I was worthless and believing it, but I know myself and my value now, and I suppose that will have to do even if some of my readers haven't quite figured it out yet.

Allergies! I've been thinking about this post all day, and am excited to try to put down all the tips and thoughts I've had before they slide through the sieve that is my mind. Firstly, figuring out that you're dealing with a food allergy is a blessing and a curse. The good news is that now you know what's causing what awful symptom you or your child has been experiencing - from eczema to strange and scary stools to behavior and sleep problems, among others. All you have to do to cure it is remove that food from the diet and life is suddenly so much better! The bad news is that you have to figure out what is left to eat, and that can be a steep learning curve.

A dairy allergy is in one sense hard because we Americans eat so much milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, and it seems like every pre-packaged product contains one of these or whey or casein which are dairy products as well. It is hard to explain this to people unfamiliar with allergies, who assume you're talking about a lactose intolerance, who ask if that means you can't eat other things in the dairy section in the grocery store like eggs and orange juice. Yes, I have gotten that question more than once and struggled to keep a straight face. Any food allergy is made all the harder by people who don't believe that they exist. I've heard stories of family members intentionally feeding an allergen to a child because they think the parent is making it up. I am so blessed to have a family that takes Julie's allergies seriously.

On the other hand, those of us dealing with food allergies in the "top eight" group of dairy, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, nuts, fish and shellfish (I think I got those last two right) are lucky because the FDA requires these ingredients to be specifically labeled on food products - this law just came into effect in the last year or so - and means that our allergens can no longer hide behind terms like "food starch" or "natural flavorings". Our family is also lucky that Julie has never had a true anaphalactic reaction. We carry an epi-pen because she has had one scary reaction to pineapple during which her face swelled up, but luckily pineapple is also pretty easy to avoid, and we're pretty sure it's only raw pineapple (not canned) that is the problem, since cooking it breaks down or denatures some of the offending proteins. I thank the universe every day that Julie doesn't have an anaphalactic allergy, or one to something like corn, which is in everything - even things like sour cream as a thickener/stabilizer - where you wouldn't expect it. I know a family with a little boy who is anaphalactic to the tiniest bit of corn. That sounds like a living nightmare to me by comparison, but they make it work somehow.

So that's a little background on where we families with food allergies are coming from. I could talk in that vein for hours if I had the time and the audience. Now, lets focus on the nutritional aspect of avoiding dairy. Most Americans still believe that dairy is an essential component to a healthy diet. I'm sorry, but that's just not true. Dairy CAN be used as part of a good diet, but there has been a lot of expensive marketing over the years to convince us that we need to drink our milk (think about the mustaches) and that cheese is irresistible (which it is quite tasty, but not all that great for you really). The two things that we Americans tend to rely on dairy for are cheap protein and calcium. There are lots of other places to get great protein, from vegetable sources like legumes and whole grains, to eggs and if you eat meat that too. As for the calcium, there have been studies showing that dairy can actually leach calcium from our bodies, that the calcium in dairy is not very well absorbed, either. You can make up for it in other ways with supplements, or better yet, making sure you get plenty of dark green leafy vegetables in your diet.

Which leads me into another topic that applies to all parents, not just those of kids with food allergies. I hear you groaning and rolling your eyes already. "My kid would NEVER eat a pile of spinach, let alone beet greens or kale. The only way I can get her to eat vegetables now is by covering them with cheese sauce." Now, I'm going to tell you how we do eating in our family, and it works for US. It will not work for all families, I know, and each kid has their own di